PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Despite a spirited comeback effort, the Robert Morris University men's hockey team was defeated Friday evening at the RMU Island Sports Center against American International College by a final score of 4-3.
Justin Addamo, Michael Coyne, and Santeri Hartikainen all recorded goals on the evening.
"Our special teams, as good as it has been, didn't get the job done tonight," head coach Derek Schooley said. "You can't give up three goals in basically a ten minute span. We didn't win face-offs, we didn't get clears, and our power play had a chance to get his back in the game and they didn't get the job done. Special teams was our Achilles heel tonight"
The first period was played with tons of pace, as both teams came out flying and filled with energy searching for an early goal.
Despite the speed, neither squad was able to generate much in terms of quality scoring chances or create consistent zone time off the cycle.
A bouncing puck at the mouth of the AIC net was nearly banged home on successive attempts by Michael Coyne and Kip Hoffmann, however neither Colonial was able to knock it in.
After a number of fast breaks were snuffed out by Kapelmaster, the Yellow Jackets eventually managed to break the stalemate. A nice give-and-go between Martin Mellberg and Elijiah Barriga finished in the RMU net after Mellberg showed off some slick hand-eye coordination and batted the puck out of mid air and over the shoulder of Kapelmaster to make it 1-0 AIC.
Undaunted by the early deficit, RMU continued to press, upping the pace and throwing the body aggressively in the corners in an effort to generate a response.
That aggressive mentality eventually paid dividends.Â
Some solid zone time led to a loose puck trickling out to the point, where Addamo collected it before wiring a hard shot through a maze of bodies and past an outstretched Durante in net for the Yellow Jackets to tie things up.
A great start to the second nearly led to another goal and the lead for RMU, however Coyne was stoned on the doorstep after a beautiful feed through the crease.
"Our problem tonight was our execution," Schooley said. "We had a potential three-on-one, a potential four-on-two, we had a potential four-on-one that we can't complete passes in. Our execution wasn't where it needs to be to play the defending league champions."
As the physicality ramped up even more, an unfortunate moment stopped the game briefly as Justin Cole went down after taking a hard shot through the neutral zone from Nolan Schaeffer. Thankfully Cole was able to skate off under his own power, however Schaeffer was assed a five-minute major and game misconduct for the hit.
Despite some great work from the RMU PK unit to kill off the first 3:50, Nicolas Luka managed to beat Kapelmaster short side coming out of the left corner to put AIC ahead 2-1.
Moments later, the Yellow Jackets cashed in again to make it 3-1 on a Hugo Reinhardt goal. A tripping call on Grant Hebert shortly after the major expired put AIC back on the man-advantage, where they quickly made it 4-1 on a goal that ended Kapelmaster's night in net.
Despite the tough situation to start the third, RMU would mount a spirited comeback effort.
Michael Coyne cut the lead down to 4-2 five and a half minutes into the final frame, swiping home a loose puck into a wide-open cage at the side of the crease.
Hartikainen made it a one goal game with just over four minutes to play after a smart read by Alex Robert forced a turnover in the neutral zone and put the puck on the big Finn's stick, who fired one over the shoulder of the AIC keeper for his third of the season.
A frantic scramble with the net empty nearly completed the comeback, however another late shot from Hartikainen sailed wide.
The loss moves RMU to 9-11-3 overall and 9-7-3 in the AHA. The two squads will square off one more time tomorrow night beginning at 5 p.m. at the RMU Island Sports Center.
"Commend our guys for a valiant effort down 4-1, we could have easily packed it in. That should give us some confidence heading into tomorrow, but at the end of the day we need to be better for 60 minutes," Schooley said. Â
